Adelytics

the analytics of adele

Adele’s music has captured the hearts and wallets of consumers worldwide. Her album “21” was the top selling album two years in a row, and, after a four year hiatus, her new album “25” became the sales story of the year. Adele’s massive musical achievements are no secret, but just how successful is she? Analytics@American did some digging. The charts below are an analysis of Adele’s unprecedented album sales. In a time of declining album sales, Adele has managed to top the charts over and over again.

This chart depicts the top selling albums of the past 16 years based on total sales.

This chart depicts the top selling physical CDs of the past six years, not including other physical formats, such as vinyl.

This chart compares total album sales to total CD sales for the year over the past 16 years.

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This chart illustrates the percentage of total album sales each of the top albums of the 2000s sold in the year they topped the charts.

This chart shows the average sales per day of each of the top albums in the 2000s, calculated by dividing total sales by the number of days in the year that the album was available.

This chart shows the top selling CD of the year for the past six years as the percentage of the year’s total CD sales.

This chart represents the average daily sales of the top CDs over the past six years, calculated by dividing total CD sales by the number of days in the year that the CD was available.

When it comes to music sales in the 21st century, it is clear that Adele cannot be beat. When faced with the raw data, the unprecedented sales of her albums “21” and “25” are undeniable. “25” sold more copies in its first week than other top selling albums sold in their entire release year – 3.38 million, to be exact. The week it was released, “25” accounted for 41% of total album sales in the U.S. “21” is the only album of the century to be the best selling album for two consecutive years, and “25” is well on its way to doing the same. If it wasn’t clear before, it is now: Adele is a force to be reckoned with.